Tent construction



Oct. 8, 1957 F. M. POWERS 2,808,844

TENT CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 23. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 8, 1957 F. M. POWERS 2,803,844

TENT CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent TENT CONSTRUCTION Frank M. Powers, River Forest, 11]., assignor to Powers & Company, a co-partnership Application August 23, 1954, Serial No. 451,360

11 Claims. (Cl. 135-1) This invention relates to an improved tent construction which is particularly adapted to tents, such as umbrella tents, in which four walls are inwardly inclined from their bases to a peak at the top. The invention is directed particularly to novel means for assembling the four fabric side walls to form the complete tent body.

An umbrella tent has four lower wall portions which are moderately inclined inwardly from the vertical to a line which is slightly above head height for a person using the tent, and from that line to the peak the walls are inclined more sharply from the vertical to the peak of the tent. Thus, there is a peripheral shoulder at the line of juncture of the lower wall portion with the cap portion of each wall, and a rigid frame is thrust upwardly into said shoulder so as to tension the fabric of the side walls both in the lower portion and in the cap portion.

One of the simplest and least expensive ways of holding the rigid frame in position is to have four supporting tapes or cords which extend from the peak of the tent along the median lines of the cap portions of the side walls and are secured to the four sides of the rigid frame.

Since the four side walls of an umbrella tent are inwardly inclined from the base to the peak, each must be cut with upwardly tapering margins, so that the edges of the side walls which must form the seams connecting adjacent side walls are cut on the bias. Conventional tent assembly work of which applicant is aware joins the adjacent inclined edges of the side walls by means of a rolled seam which extends from the base of the side walls to the shoulder of the tent, and another rolled seam from the shoulder to the peak. Bringing the four seams together at the peak of the tent is difficult, and there must be a cap piece in the peak of the tent to prevent any leakage where the seams join. Forming such rolled seams in bias cut fabric such as the canvas used for tents is a relatively slow operation, and the finished seams are wavy and unsightly because of the torsion which is placed upon the bias cut edge in rolling the seam.

In accordance with the present disclosure, an unbrella tent is provided with a greatly simplified seam construction in which the seam joining the adjacent edge portion of two side walls is formed by placing the margins which will form the seam in facing relationship so as to provide a seam band, and longitudinally folding a continuous strip of bias tape about the facing edge portions which form the seam band so as to enclose the raw edges of the fabric. The seam band and bias tape may then be secured together by textile stitching to form a completed seam. Since there is no torsional strain placed upon the bias cut edge portions of the side walls in forming such a seam, seams formed in this manner are perfectly straight and present a far better appearance than do the conventional rolled seams. Furthermore, the simplicity of forming such seams greatly reduces the man hours of labor required to assemble an umbrella tent.

In accordance with the present invention seams of the above type are employed for joining the side Walls to each other, and the finished tent consists essentially of two pairs of side walls each of which forms one-half of the tent. The side walls of each pair are secured together by a continuous seam which extends from the base to the peak of the tent, around the shoulder at the juncture between the lower wall portions and the cap portions of the walls; and the two halves of the tent are then assembled by forming a similar seam in which a continuous strip of bias tape extends from the base of the side walls at one corner of the tent, entirely over the peak of the tent and terminates at the base of the side Walls at the corner diametrically opposite that where the tape commences. Thus, the peak of the tent is fully enclosed without the need for a cap piece, and the operations by which the four side walls are assembled into a finished tent are considerably simplified so as further to substantially reduce the man hours required to complete a tent.

Since the peak of the tent is completely enclosed, the upper end of a center pole such as is commonly used in umbrella tents thrusts into the peak of the tent, and reinforcement of the peak is desirable, as well as the provision of an extra fabric patch which will receive the wear occasioned by contact with the top of the tent pole. Such a patch may be very easily stitched into the peak of the tent when the two halves of the tent are being secured together by means of the continuous seam, by folding the patch and inserting the folded edge into the seam band before the bias tape is applied and the entire seam completed by stitching. Likewise, the tapes which are used to support the rigid frame in the shoulder of the tent may be very easily stitched into the peak by folding them into the patch with a part ot the fold line, so that the tapes as well as the patch are sandwiched into the seam bands before the stitching takes place. This again eliminates a very difficult manual operation and further reduces labor cost.

The invention is illustrated in a preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of an umbrella tent, constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of one base corner of the tent, showing how the lower end of the bias tape is employed to form a loop for attachment to a tent P Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken as indicated along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom plan view looking upwardly into the peak of the tent to show the details of the patch and tape assembly; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken as indicated along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and referring first to Fig. 1, an umbrella tent is formed of fabric such as light weight canvas, and has side walls 10 and 11, a rear wall 12 and a front wall 13 provided with an opening 14. As in any umbrella tent, each of the walls is slightly inwardly inclined from the vertical from the base to a line somewhat above the head height for an average person, and is then more sharply inclined from the vertical to the peak of the tent. Thus, using the side wall 11 as an example, from its base 11a it is slightly inclined from the vertical to provide a lower side wall portion 11b which extends upwardly to a shoulder which extends along the juncture between the lower wall portion 11b and a cap portion 11d. Similarly, the other walls have a base, a lower wall portion, a shoulder, and a cap portion, which in each instance bears a letter designation corresponding to those for the portions of the side wall 11. The peak of the tent is designated by the numeral 15.

The side wall 10 and the back wall 12 constitute one pair of walls, while the side wall 11 and the front wall 13 constitute a second pair of walls. It is clear from Fig. 1 that each of the tent walls tapers gradually from its base to the shoulder, and tapers sharply from the shoulder to the peak, so that the longitudinal margins of each wall are necessarily bias cut. The two walls which form each of the pairs of Walls are joined from the base to the peak 15 by a single seam which is formed by laying the two walls flat with their adjacent bias cut edge portions in register to form a seam band, and enclosing the seam band in a longitudinally folded piece of bias tape, and completing the seam by stitching through the bias tape and the seam band with a sewing machine.

Referring to Fig. 3, the walls 10 and 12 are joined by a seam 16 and the walls 11 and 13 are joined by a seam 17. The seam 16 includes a projecting seam band 18 and a strip of bias tape 19 enclosing the seam band, while the seam 17 includes a seam band 20 and a strip of bias tape 21. The seams 16 and 17 are silghtly offset at their upper ends so that they do not extend directly into the peak of the tent, but each of the seams has its upper end slightly to one side of the peak 15 to avoid bunching of fabric at the peak.

The first half of the tent formed by the side wall 10 and the rear wall 12 is next joined to the second half of the tent formed by the side wall 11 and the front wall 13. The seam joining the two halves of the tent is designated by the numeral 22, and extends continuously over the tent from the base corner 22a at the juncture between the base 13a of the front wall and the base 10a of one side wall to the base corner 22]) which is diametrically opposite the base corner 22a. The seam 22 has a first seam portion 22c which extends from the base corner 22a to the peak of the tent and a second seam portion 22d which extends from the base corner 22b to the peak of the tent; but the seam 22 is made continuous by the fact that a single strip of bias tape 23 extends continuously along both portions of said seam and over the peak 15 of the tent where the peak extremities of the seams 16 and 17 are stitched into the seam 22.

At the peak of the tent is a reinforcing patch 24 which reinforces the peak 15 where it has the thrust of a tent pole P, the patch 24 serving also to act as an abrasion shield between the fabric of the tent walls and the top of the pole. The patch 24 may be made of considerably heavier fabric than the tent walls so as to stand considerable rubbing without wearing through.

Also secured into the peak 15 of the tent are tapes 25 and 26 (see Figs. 4 and which are stitched into the peak with the patch 24 by placing the tapes in partially longitudinally overlapping relationship on top of the patch 24, and folding the patch with portions of the tapes folded inside the patch. The patch 24, and tapes 25 and 26 are then inserted between the two halves of the tent before the seam 22 is formed, so that the folded marginal portion of the patch 24 with the folded portions of the tapes 25 and 26 is sandwiched between the marginal portions of the adjacent walls which form the seam bands for the seam portions 220 and 22d. When the seam 22 is completed, the patch 24 and tapes 25 and 26 are firmly stitched into the peak 15 of the tent, as seen in Figs. 4 and 5.

The tape 25 provides supporting tapes 25a and 25b, while the tape 26 provides supporting tapes 26a and 26b, and each of said supporting tapes is secured to a side of a rigid frame 27 so that the frame is supported by the tapes in the shoulders of the tent walls, thus tensioning the lower wall portions and the cap portions.

The use of bias tape in the seams which join the walls of the tent to one another permits a substantially stronger loop construction at the base corners of the tent where loops are fastened to tent pegs. In conventional tent construction the tapes are stitched into the fabric of the tent, but are entirely separate pieces of material. In accordance with the present invention, and using the base corner 22b as an example in Fig. 2, the continuous bias tape 23 extends beyond the base corner 22b to leave a length of tape which is free of the fabric, and the outer end of this length of tape is doubled back and stitched into the seam 22 at 28, to form a fabric loop 29 which is an integral part of the seam 22. This construction is not only stronger than conventional construction, but is also less expensive due to the saving of labor in forming the loop.

The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom, as some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A tent comprising: four fabric walls each of which is inwardly inclined from its base to a peak at the top, two of said Walls being joined from base to peak by a first seam to form a first half of the tent body, and the other two of said walls being joined by a second seam to form a second half of the tent body; and a single continuous seam joining said two halves, said single continuous seam being composed of the adjacent inclined edge portions of said halves which are positioned in facing relationship to form two projecting seam bands extending from diametrically opposed base corners to said peak, a single continuous piece of longitudinally folded textile tape enclosing both said seam bands, and textile stitching joining said tape and seam bands.

2. An umbrella tent comprising: four fabric walls each of which is inwardly inclined from its base to a peak at the top, each wall including a lower wall portion which is slightly inclined from the vertical and a cap portion which is sharply inclined so that there is a peripheral shoulder at the juncture of said portions, two of said walls being joined from base to peak by a first seam to form a first half of the tent body, and the other two of said walls being joined by a second seam to from a second half of the tent body; a single continuous seam joining said two halves, said single continuous seam being composed of the adjacent inclined edge portions of said halves which are positioned in facing relationship to form two projecting seam bands extending from diametrically opposed base corners to said peak, a single continuous piece of longitudinally folded textile tape enclosing both said seam bands, and textile stitching joining said tape and seam bands; a fabric reinforcing patch and tape means inside the peak of the tent, said patch and tape means having portions sandwiched in said two seam bands and joined thereto by the textile stitching in said seam; and rigid frame means positioned against the inside of the tent walls at the peripheral shoulder between said lower portions and said cap portions, said tape means being secured to said frame means to draw the latter firmly into said peripheral shoulder.

3. The umbrella tent of claim 2 in which the tape means comprises two tapes, each of which has its midportion sandwiched in the seam band so that it has two free ends each of which may be secured to a side of the frame.

4. The umbrella tent of claim 2 in which the portion of the reinforcing patch which is sandwiched in the seam bands is folded and has its fold at the outer extremities of the seam bands, and that part of the tape means which is sandwiched in the seam bands is inside the folded portion of the patch.

5. The umbrella tent of claim 4 in which the tape means comprises two tapes, each of which has its midportion within the folded portion of the patch.

6. A tent comprising: four fabric walls each of which is inwardly inclined from its base to a peak at the top, two of said walls being joined from base to peak by a first seam to form a first half of the tent body, and the other two of said walls being joined by a second seam to form a second half of the tent body, said first and second seams each including a projecting seam band composed of the adjacent inclined edge portions of the walls forming the half joined by said seam and a centrally longitudinally folded strip of textile tape enclosing said band, the outer marginal portions of said tape being folded under to position the edges of the tape adjacent the central fold, the lower end portion of said strips of tape extending beyond the bases of the walls to provide integral tapes for attachment to tent pegs; and a single continuous seam joining said two halves, said continuous seam being composed of the adjacent inclined edge portions of said halves which are positioned in facing relationship to form two projecting seam bands extending from diametrically opposed base corners to said peak, a single continuous piece of centrally longitudinally folded textile tape enclosing both said seam bands, the outer marginal portions of said tape being folded under to position the edges of the tape adjacent the central fold, and textile stitching joining said tape and seam bands,

said single continuous piece of tape extending beyond the bases of the walls to provide integral tapes for attachment to tent pegs.

7. The tent of claim 6 in which the extending end portions of all the tapes are doubled back and stitched into the seam to form loops.

8. A tent comprising: four fabric walls each of which is inwardly inclined from its base to a peak at the top, two of said walls being joined from base to peak by a first seam to form a first half of the tent body, and the other two of said walls being joined by a second seam to form a second half of the tent body; a single continuous seam joining said two halves, said continuous seam being composed of the adjacent inclined edge portions of said halves which are positioned in facing relationship to form two projecting seam bands extending from diametrically opposed base corners to said peak, a single continuous piece of longitudinally folded textile tape enclosing both said seam bands, and textile stitching joining said tape and seam bands; and a fabric reinforcing patch inside the peak of the tent, said patch having portions sandwiched in said two seam bands and joined thereto by the textile stitching in said seam.

9. A tent comprising: four fabric walls each of which is inwardly inclined from its base to a peak at the top, two of said walls being joined from base to peak by a first seam to form a first half of the tent body, and the other two of said walls being joined by a second seam to form a second half of the tent body; a single continuous seam joining said two halves, said continuous seam being composed of the adjacent inclined edge portions of said halves which are positioned in facing relationship to form two projecting seam bands extending from diametrically opposed base corners to said peak, a single continuous piece of longitudinally folded textile tape enclosing both said seam bands, and textile stitching joining said tape and seam bands; and a fabric reinforcing patch and tape means inside the peak of the tent, said patch and tape means having portions sandwiched in said two seam bands joined thereto by the textile stitching in said seam.

10. A tent comprising: four fabric walls each of which is inwardly inclined from its base to a peak at the top, said walls being joined along their inclined margins from base to peak by seams so as to enclose a rectangular ground area, each of said seams including a projecting seam band composed of the adjacent inclined edge portions of two adjacent walls and a centrally longitudinally folded strip of textile tape enclosing said band, the outer marginal portions of said tape being folded under to position the edges of the tape adjacent the central fold, together with textile stitching extending through the tape and band, the lower end portion of each of said longitudinally folded strips of tape extending beyond the bases of the walls to provide integral tapes for attachment to tent pegs.

11. The tent of claim 10 in which the extending end portions of all the tapes are doubled back and stitched into the seam to form loops.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 131,041 Whitcomb Sept. 3, 1872 2,070,244 Staab Feb. 9, 1937 2,084,778 Powers June 22, 1937 2,540,529 Johnson Feb. 6, 1951 OTHER REFERENCES Federal Standard Stock Catalogue DDD-5-751-59 Seam B Se-2.

The Good Housekeeping Needle Craft Encyclopedia, page 23, Fig. A21. 

